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All about EVITA
A documentary marking the musical’s 40th birthday tells why it inspired Mrs T – and how Madonna begged to be in the film
The applause that greeted that all-important first-night performance of the musical Evita in 1978 went on for a full five minutes. The show’s star, Elaine Paige, who was a jobbing actress when she landed the role, knows it was five minutes because she still has a recording to prove it. ‘Afterwards, the producer presented me with a vinyl record of the applause,’ she laughs. ‘We all knew then we were in a hit.’
The role required Elaine, then as fresh-faced as they come, to go to the London waxworks Madame Tussauds and be fitted for a ‘death mask’ for an unforgettable scene in the show where the dead Eva Peron, embalmed so her fans could worship her in death, lies in her coffin. In Evita: The Making Of A Superstar, a BBC documentary to mark the 40th anniversary of the production now available on iPlayer, Elaine returns to the rehearsal room where it all began – and brings the macabre mask, complete with eyelashes and eyebrows, out of a box. ‘I had straws stuck up my nose and plaster put over my head. It was so claustrophobic,’ she recalls.
The West End show, which spawned myriad theatre and film productions, turned Eva Peron – the wife of the Argentine president Juan Peron – from a heroine (to some) in her country into a global icon. In the documentary, the lyricist Tim Rice explains the inspiration came from a childhood obsession with postage stamps. Intrigued by why there was a woman ‘who didn’t seem to be a queen’ on Argentine stamps, he learnt of Eva Peron. Years later, when he’d formed a partnership with composer Andrew Lloyd Webber (they already had hit musicals Jesus Christ Superstar and Joseph under their belts), he heard a radio programme about the astonishing life of Eva, who died from cervical cancer at just 33. He was hooked by this lady ‘from humble beginnings who went on to achieve so much’.
He says Andrew wasn’t as convinced Eva Peron was an obvious choice as a heroine because even in her home nation she was deeply divisive. While the poor saw her as their champion, others regarded the one- time actress as manipulative and responsible for sham populism. ‘He saw it was a good story, but he was worried about the fact she wasn’t a nice person,’ says Tim. ‘But who is?’ What the show doesn’t touch on is that Tim was also hooked by Elaine Paige when he met her on the show, and the pair went on to have an 11-year affair. ‘The wedding bells idea did chime for me,’ Elaine said in 2008, though of course they only chimed in her head because, she says, Tim ‘was extremely married at the time’. The affair is said to have been the final nail in the coffin for the Rice/ Lloyd Webber partnership, which grew fractious during the writing of Evita from tensions over who was getting more credit for their growing fame. The programme analyses why Eva became a legend, and why other powerful women were fascinated by her. A letter written by an ambitious British MP after she saw the show in 1978 suggests it had a big impact. ‘It was a strangely wondrous evening,’ wrote the female MP, mesmerised by this story of a woman who’d got people to love her so much that she had to urge them not to cry for her. ‘I still find myself disturbed by it, but if they can do this without any ideals, then if we apply the same perfection and creativeness to our message we should provide quite good historic material for an opera called Margaret in 30 years’ time.’
Yes, indeed, the writer of the letter was Margaret Thatcher who, just months later, became Britain’s first female prime minister. In some ways the music of Evita provided the backdrop to her time at the helm. When she led Britain to war against Argentina in 1982, in defence of the Falkland Islands, the famous Evita theme Don’t Cry For Me Argentina was an unofficial anthem of the Task Force.
The programme claims Evita was also the favourite musical of a young Donald Trump, who reportedly saw it six times. But when the Broadway version opened in New York, the year after the show premiered in London, it was panned by critics and the writers were accused of, as Tim recalls, ‘glamorising a fascist’. Juan Peron was democratically elected, but in the US was seen as a dictator.
Some of the most famous stars in the world were clearly spellbound by Eva’s story. In 1996, filmmaker Alan Parker collaborated with Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice on a movie version of the show. He was astonished to get a letter from Madonna begging to be considered for the lead. ‘It said, “Forget everyone else, I’m the only one who can play the part. I’ll do anything.”’ He was convinced. ‘She was the most famous woman in the world at that time – as was Eva Peron in her time.’
Controversy stalked this production. The crew arrived in Argentina to messages of ‘ Fuera Madonna’ (‘Madonna go home’) daubed on walls and, although permission had been granted to film in the country, the then president refused to allow the crew entry onto the famous balcony of the ‘pink palace’, or Casa Rosada, in Buenos Aires, from where Eva made memorable speeches. Then Madonna got involved, securing an audience with the president. ‘The next day we had permission,’ chuckles Alan. ‘Madonna did in half an hour what we’d tried to do for months.’
An astonishing thing about the tale of Eva Peron is that the factual version was even odder than the fictionalised ones. Programme presenter Suzy Klein travels to Argentina to find out about the real Eva, meeting her niece, who now runs an Eva Peron museum, and walking the streets where she grew up in poverty. She carved her own sort of stardom through marriage and entry into political life. The idea that performance is a part of political success is not a new one, but Eva came to typify it. Her husband was the powerful figure, but she injected the passion.
Eva died in 1952, but the next chapter of her story is outlandish. Her body was meticulously preserved and put on display in her former office. But Juan Peron was eventually deposed in a coup and the new leadership, afraid of how potent the sight of her remains was, smuggled them out of Argentina. There was a plot, aided by the Vatican it seems, to bury her in Italy. But she effectively went on a 17-year mystery tour.
She was finally buried in the family tomb in La Recoleta Cemetery in Buenos Aires. Millions flock to see her every year. Forty years after her life became a West End show, Eva Peron is still a crowd-pleaser. Evita: The Making Of A Superstar is on BBC iPlayer now.